Cons: Fighting against the new Criminal Underworld faction's corruption is sometimes annoying.
The Bottom Line: Not so much an expansion as it is a "completion" to the initial game, giving it a much needed third dimension and encompassing many expanded universe elements.
thepremier's Full Review: Star Wars Empire At War: Forces Of Corruption for ...
Star Wars: Forces of Corruption Lucas Arts: 2006
Star Wars: Forces of Corruption (FoC) is the excellent expansion to the hit Star Wars: Empire At War. It introduces a third element to the once two sided galactic conflict; every bit as menacing, challenging, and drastically different then the traditional Rebellion and Galactic Empire. It introduces the criminal underworld of the galaxy represented by criminal mastermind Tyber Zahn, and while galactic conquest is still the goal, you have new means and ways of achieving said goal - by exploiting corruption.
(Author's Sidebar: I would have loved if the criminal element in the game was not a newly invented character for the game, but something already more established - like Prince Xizor and the Black Sun Syndicate from the beloved novel/project, Shadows of the Empire. Alas, it was not meant to be. Interestingly enough, the new character's name appears to be an homage to acclaimed Star Wars author Timothy Zahn and many expanded universe elements that have been brought into this expansion can be attributed to Timothy Zahn's works.)
Premise
The expansion picks up where the first game sort of "ends", which is somewhere before the events of The Empire Strikes Back. FoC picks up again afterwards, with new heroes, new units, and places and events occurring afterwards. The Empire, once again, is trying to build a Death Star, more powerful than it's predecessor, as it can now target enemy capital ships. No, your cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude. Still, the Rebellion, emboldened, is trying to liberate the galaxy. And Tyber Zahn is beginning to acquire galactic influence in his crime activities, which is where the new campaign for the new faction, the Zahn Consortium, begins.
The Zahn Consortium
The Consortium is played very differently from the other two factions. It has its own set of unique units and heroes for space and ground that mirror the Imperial and Rebel counterparts to be sure, but even those come with added features and changes.
The biggest difference in how this faction is played is its ability to "corrupt" and use planetary systems to their advantage that it do not yet control. This is done through a unique minor hero unit for the Consortium called a Defiler. It can travel the galaxy undetected and can launch various missions on enemy planets or in orbit. They take the form of highly specific tasks, such as kidnapping an important person, or taking out a facility, etc. The units and heroes for the attempt are all predetermined by the mission and you cannot bring reinforcements. Failure often involves the temporary incapacitation of a Consortium hero, as they are frequently the ones leading the mission, as well as the credit loss for the attempt.
Success, however, gives the Consortium many and myriad benefits, depending on the system being corrupted, the method of corruption, and sometimes the faction "nominally" in control of the planet (Rebellion of Empire). Every "corrupted" system is able to be traversed by Consortium forces freely, meaning they can bypass your heavily defended outer worlds and go straight for your inner worlds. Corrupted worlds bring in money, and depending on the corruption, give the Consortium access to certain units, reduced costs for other units, and other benefits. Black Markets allow the consortium to purchase their units' special abilities. Slavery gives cheap troops. Piracy allows them to produce a ship of Rebellion or Imperial design. There are several other corruption missions as well.
Corruption also has benefits for the corrupted world - costs are reduced for anything built on a corrupted world for the faction who still controls the planet. It also affects things like bounty hunter and smuggler costs. Corruption can be removed at a price by certain major hero units (like Emperor Palpatine and Mon Mothma to name a couple).
The Consortium has access to many unique and powerful units. These are are readily available at the start of the game - the Consortium does not research technology. It simply builds the factories or upgrades the space station to the appropriate level to produce the appropriate unit. However, the special abilities of these units must be purchased from one of two black markets by Tyber Zahn personally - one on an Imperial controlled system and one on a Rebellion system.
The Consortium's units consist of some of the fiercest in the galaxy. In space, they boast cruisers with a laser point defense system for destroying enemy missiles and torpedoes, ships with "mass drivers" (big rail guns or futuristic machine guns) whose projectiles bypass shields, cloaking devices, and the Consortium's capital ship, the Kedalbe Battleship, is a particularly nasty and well balanced ship capable of dealing with almost any foe, and it once purchased, is equipped a special weapon that drains enemy ships' shields. On the ground, their troops arm themselves with illegal and dangerous war toys such as stim drugs, disruptors, and land mines. The Consortium can build advanced destroyer droids and other massive, advanced land machines, including squadrons of Canderous Assault Tanks that (as a squadron) are easily the match for Imperial AT-ATs and anything else the enemy can throw at them. Also, most Consortium heavy ground units are shielded making them that much more dangerous.
The Consortium's heroes are a point of contention. From a balance point of view, they are extremely powerful making them very dangerous. In space, Tyber cruises around in his massive Aggressor Class ship which makes short work of anything big, slow, and/or stationary. On land, he can "bribe" enemy units, bringing them to his side. His second in command is his un-aging alien, force-attuned body guard, Urai-Fen who thrives in hand-to-hand combat. Both of them are equipped with personal cloaking devices. In addition, Zahn also keeps around a Nightsister from Dathomir, Silri, by his side to aid him in things concerning the Force - she wields a lightwhip, is prone to bouts of energy-draining rage, and can summon her pet rancor to her side. Finally, Zahn keeps not one but two legendary bounty hunters at his side, Bossk and the freakishly deadly assassin droid IG-88. Both have abilities that are frankly, off the hook, in space and on land.
(Author's Note: IG-88 functions as the Consortium's one and only means of destroying the Death Star II, just as Rogue Squandron does for the Rebellion. However, having IG-88 "hack the Death Star" is a suicide mission, and permanently removes him from the game as well.)
Other crafty tricks up the Consortium's sleeves include Ewok Handlers - if the Consortium has corrupted or controls Endor - which launch Ewoks strapped with bombs at their targets, resulting in a tremendous explosion. Also at their command are Vornskrs (linked to the system of Myrkyr) which are Force-attuned predators useful against Jedi and all manner of infantry as well as Ysalamiri Cages - these are animals that actually evolved to "negate" the influence of the Force in an area around them - making Jedi abilities useless.
All of this would prove overwhelming to the Empire and Rebellion - had they also not received extra goodies as well.
Rebellion and Empire Enhancements
The Empire has been given one sorely needed improvement - better fighters. The quality of fighters improves as you upgrade your star destroyers. Acclamators spawn the old TIEs, but Victory and Imperial Class Destroyers spawn TIE Interceptors, better able to compete with the Rebels' advanced zippy fighters and also Zahn's expensive and high quality fighters. In addition, you can also build TIE Phantoms (fast and equipped with cloaking devices) and TIE Defenders (the Empire's best fighter and bomber all in one) and bring them to battle just as the Rebellion does.
Also, as mentioned above, the Death Star II hero unit can target enemy starships making it utterly terrifying to hear an announcement of its completion. Grand Admiral Thrawn joins the Imperial Fleet in his advanced Star Destroyer and General Rom Mohc in his factory ship the Arc Hammer joins the fleet as well. His ship allows the Empire to build three versions of awesome Darktrooper troops at the system he is in.
Wait - what happened to Vader? Vader must be "purchased" and he is expensive at 20,000 credits. But you are rewarded with his personal flagship in space, that's right, the Super Star Destroyer Executor. It's special ability? Virtually unlimited fighter and bomber squadrons, and you can deploy them at will (though the type that emerges is random) with only a few seconds delay time in between. The Executor can readily handle itself unless the opponent has overwhelming bombers, fighters, and shield penetrating weapons and makes short work of any space station.
The Rebellion gets new heroes as well. Rogue Squadron replaces the previous game's Red Squadron. Luke is a grown up Jedi now, and can fight on the ground with Obi-Wan and Yoda. Finally, what the Executor is in space, General Garm Bel Iblis's tank is on ground. This massive transport has tough shields, huge turbolasers to pummel buildings and vehicles, and laser canons for taking out troops and droids - or it can just run them over. In space, the most powerful bomber in the game, the B-Wing, can be produced by the Rebel Alliance. Coupled with the new MC30 Frigate - a hideously fast and tough little proton torpedo vomiting cruiser - the Rebels have never been so capable of taking out capital ships so quickly and easily.
Other tweaks and changes and technical
The most welcome addition to ground combat is the "Advanced Base Layout" screen. This is an optional feature, the AI simply did this for the player before and continues to do it. However this allows the player to change the location of ground forces - buildings and units - to the strategic positions of his or her choosing - which can drastically improve the chances of a successful victory should you be invaded by ground forces. As an attacker, however, you can also view your opponents layout screen just before you invade their worlds as well.
There is also a welcome addition to space combat - the defender is now able to spend money during a battle to have the hardpoints on their space station slowly repair - literally "buying" you time to stave off the invaders.
Many more exotic and alien systems from the prequels and the expanded universe are available to take over, including places like Mustafar, Kamino, Dathomir, Honoghr, The Maw, and Mandalore to name a few.
Each faction also has access to various similar units like ground building pads, mobile build pads, troop transports, and others that have also been adjusted and balanced. The Consortium can participate in single player scenarios as the other two factions.
There is only one campaign for the Consortium and no others were created for the Rebellion or Empire. The game comes with 6 Galactic Conquest maps and more can be
Multiplayer has become much more exciting. Three player free for all scenarios and "mirror battles" in which both sides use the same faction are both possible.
There is a patch for the expansion, which fixes a few bugs and balancing issues present at the time of its release, though I'm not convinced all was fixed. The Consortium's space station is supposed to have a special weapon (to balance the Rebels' Ion Cannon and the Empire's Hypervelocity Gun) and I am either unsure of how it relates to space station size or what is built on the ground because sometimes I am able to use it, other times not.
The system requirements are readily available, and my 256 ATI Radeon 9800 video card, 2GB RAM, and aging Athlon 3100 processor handle everything nicely and the game seems to be quite Vista-friendly, at least for my system.
Now if you will excuse me, I have a galaxy to run...
STAR WARS EMPIRE AT WAR FORCES OF CORRUPTION WIN XP NEW Publisher: Lucast Art Platform : Windows Item Upc # : 023272713188 MSRP/Age: (T) Teen 12+ Pack...More at eBay
Experience the timeframe depicted in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi through an entirely new point of view as criminal mastermind Tyber...More at Amazon Marketplace
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